Keeping in touch. Since the dawn of history, human beings have developed increasingly more sophisticated means of keeping in touch. First, it was language. Then came systems for communicating over distance such as smoke signals, drumbeats and semaphores. The heroes of the Industrial Revolution provided us with the radio, the telegraph and the telephone. More recently, mobile telephones, televisions and networked computers allow us to keep in touch.
The prime importance that people attach to keeping in touch is easily demonstrated by an inventory of a typical person's home. There you will generally find at least a radio, a television and a telephone. Moreover, it is not unusual for a home to have several telephone extensions so that a call may be answered quickly and conveniently. The fear of missing a call and thereby being out-of-touch has led many people to use telephone answering machines and services to record messages from callers. Also, the fear of missing a call and thereby being out-of-touch has led many people to use mobile telephones, which they typically use while they are on the go and away from their homes.
But people with answering machines, mobile telephones and multiple telephone extensions in their homes still miss calls. How can this happen to a person equipped with all that technology? The way it happens is generally not based on technology. Rather, it is based on a failing of human nature. That is, would-be callers generally have difficulty remembering or otherwise keeping up with somebody else's telephone number. Would-be callers have even greater difficulty remembering or otherwise keeping up with somebody else's mobile telephone number as well as somebody else's telephone number. The result is that a caller calls the number that he or she remembers or to which he or she has ready access such as through directory assistance. The caller may not reach the called party at that number. The person has missed the call. The person is out of touch, at least with respect to that caller.
There are groups of people who do not share the human failing of having difficulty in remembering somebody else's telephone number, and especially, of somebody else's telephone number and mobile telephone number. One such group includes "mothers with grown children who allegedly never call their mothers". Members of this group have been known to track down their offspring by repeated calls to the offspring's telephone number and mobile telephone number. Mom will try to reach her offspring at home; if that fails, mom will try to reach her offspring on the mobile telephone; if that fails, mom will try to reach her offspring at home; and if that fails . . . The fact that the offspring is equipped with a telephone and a mobile telephone may increase by two-fold the number of calls that mom will make to reach her offspring. When the offspring finally answers such a call, the offspring gets an earful including a complaint that mom had to make all sorts of efforts to reach the offspring at either the offspring's telephone or mobile telephone. Of course, mom may also provide a little education by quoting Shakespeare: "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child."
The foregoing paragraph provides a humorous example. But it demonstrates the inconvenience visited upon a would-be caller. That would-be caller may have to place at least two separate calls to two different numbers to finally reach the person, if the person is equipped with a telephone and a mobile telephone. The likelihood of the caller reaching the person may be doubled because of the person's telecommunications equipment. In other words, the person is less likely to miss a call. However, the inconvenience in making two calls (even if the would-be caller remembers or has ready access to the numbers) cuts into the likelihood that the caller will make the calls. The caller may just not be as motivated to make the second call as a member of the group: "mothers with grown children who allegedly never call their mothers."If the caller is not motivated enough to overcome the inconvenience by making more than one call, the person will miss the call. The person is out of touch, at least with respect to that caller.
To keep better in touch and to avoid missing a call, a person generally distributes his or her telephone number, and if so equipped, his or her mobile telephone number. This distribution may be as simple as orally informing all would-be callers of these numbers. To a business person, this distribution may be as complicated as sending out flyers, passing out business cards, posting notices, etc. To a limited extent, this distribution of numbers helps the person to keep in touch. The extent to which this helps a person avoid missing calls depends on whether would-be callers retain the distribution of information and whether would-be callers use such a distribution. The flyers, business cards and notices may wind up in the would-be callers' recycle bins, or be misplaced, or be inconveniently stored.
Of course, the person's pertinent numbers may change. For example, a person who subscribes to mobile telephone service from a particular service provider may switch to another service provider for a whole host of reasons: better service; less expense; etc. The switch to another service provider typically results in a change in the mobile telephone number. Thus, to keep in touch and to avoid missing a call, the person has to distribute the new number. As before, this distribution may be as simple as orally informing all would-be callers of these numbers. On the other hand, this distribution may be as complicated as having to send out new flyers, print and pass out new business cards, post new notices, etc. Whether it's a simple distribution of the new mobile telephone number or a complicated distribution, or somewhere between, the change in the mobile telephone number results in a hassle. The person may not have distributed the new number to all would-be callers; or the would-be callers may have forgotten or lost the new number; or the would-be callers may continue to call the old number. The person may miss a call and be out of touch for an initial period until the change takes hold. This hassle is inconvenient and annoying. This hassle may be enough of an impediment to prevent a person from taking advantage of better service or less expensive service opportunities from a different service provider of mobile telecommunication service. In other words, this hassle in distribution of a new number may stifle competition in the provision of telecommunication services.
Whether it is an initial distribution of telephone numbers, or a distribution of new numbers, the distribution provides would-be callers with ready access to the person's pertinent telecommunication numbers. Using a person's business card with such number information, a would-be caller may try to reach the person by calling first one number, and if no answer is received, then by calling the other number. In other words, the would-be caller may have to make two calls to get in touch with the person. Thus, the distribution of the pertinent numbers by the person may resolve the difficulty that some would-be callers have in keeping track of a person's telephone number and mobile telephone number. However, the distribution does not affect the fact that a caller may have to make two or more calls (and repeat those calls) to track down a person. As noted, not all callers are motivated enough to overcome the inconvenience of making two or more calls. If the caller lacks such motivation, the person may miss the call. The person is out of touch, at least with respect to that caller.
The foregoing paragraphs have discussed some of the difficulties faced by a person in trying to keep in touch and to avoid missing calls in a telephone and mobile telephone environment. Telecommunication service providers share the concerns of their subscribers, but they, of course, have their own points of view. One interest of a mobile telecommunication service provider is to increase air time usage of a mobile telephone by a subscriber. Generally, the fees for mobile telecommunication service are based on such air time usage. So, more air time usage means more fees for the service provider. Thus, such a service provider is interested in minimizing the inconvenience to would-be callers in placing calls to mobile telephones and promoting the increased use of mobile telephones by subscribers. Given the cost of mobile telephone service and the existing conventional telephone plant, it is unrealistic to expect the public to switch over completely to the use of mobile telephones. Nevertheless, it is in the interests of mobile telecommunication service providers to increase the probability that a person's mobile telephone is used for as much of the person's telecommunication needs as possible.
Accordingly, with respect to mobile telecommunication service providers, there is a need for a system that promotes increased air time usage of a mobile telephone by a subscriber. There is an additional need for a system that promotes competition in the provision of mobile telephone service by making it more convenient for persons to change mobile telecommunication service providers.
Additionally, with respect to subscribers of telecommunication services, there is a need for a system that allows people to keep in touch with others and to avoid missing communications. In particular, there is a need for a system that minimizes the amount of information a person has to distribute with respect to a person's telecommunication devices. For example, there is a need for a system that allows a person to distribute a single number rather than both a telephone number and a mobile telephone number. As another example, there is a need for a system that obviates the necessity of distributing a new number when a person changes from one provider of mobile telecommunication service to another such provider.
Further, there is a need for a system that eliminates the inconvenience to would-be callers of trying to reach a person with a telephone and a mobile telephone. For example, there is a need for a system that eliminates the necessity of having to place separate (and possibly repeated) calls to a person's telephone number and a person's mobile telephone number in order to finally reach the person.